Garvin

Everyone has missed one point here which is kinda important. In order to upgrade to the higher gears (aka 4.88's), you will need to change the carrier also as I'm assuming the gears are 3.55's? The cut off point for the Dana 30 is 3.73's while the 44 (I believe) is 3.55's, don't quote me on the Dana 44 one though as it's in that area.

With that said, I prefer the full lockers for the rear atleast. If it is going to be driver on the street then you will want to disengage the rear axle or the tires will get eaten up fast. Unless you are really extreme with the wheeling, you should be able to get away with an Aussie in the front, if you so choose.

I prefer full lockers for both as with the lunchbox lockers, the axle is only as strong as the stock carrier. The stock carriers were not designed to put up with these kind of loads, many of my buddies have cracked carriers and chipped gears due to the flex caused by the lunchbox locker.

As I said earlier, I prefer full selectable lockers. In my old Cherokee (8" lift on 36's), I was running custom made Dana 44's front and rear with an OX in the rear and ARB in the front. The OX is nice because it is cable actuated so you can feel it engage while the ARB is nice cause since I didn't have to do anything but hit two switches.

If you do plan on making that an extreme wheeler, you will also want to consider upgrading the Dana 30HP to something a bit beefier. I went through three Dana 30HP's (bent two housings and blew up the carrier in the 3rd) before throwing in a Dana 44HP. This also eliminates the wheel hub issue, which the 35's will eat up fairly fast.

I have plenty of experience going big if you have any questions. My Comanche is lifted 8" right now but she is getting one ton axles and a V8. Also, both the Cherokee and this Comanche were/are daily drivers so I didn't go out to try to break them when I did go out, these were just the weak points that I've encountered.

jeepkid46

Now you can beef up the 30 to eithstand big tires ironrockoffroad sells weld in tube that go inside the tubes to strengthen those and a full locker and chromos and early axles so you get the bigger ujoints and ems offroad has a really tough locking hubs

Garvin

In order to make the Dana 30 withstand extreme offroading, you'll end up spending a few thousand with just upgrades. For all that work and money, you could just go get a Rubicon D44HP and just bolt it in. The Rubicon 44 has an air locker in it already and you can easily swap the gears to 4.88's (just make sure you get one with 4.11's and numberically higher).

If you are really interested in it, you can just get a set of one tons and never worry about breaking them. You will never break an axle with 35's with a Dana 60HP/14 bolt combo under a Jeep. But if you're going that route, you might as well go with a larger tire.

jeepkid46

Rubis are expensive and have alot of parts the 30 has if you build it right it wont break

Garvin

Rubi's are expensive but in order to build a Dana 30 up to be as strong then you're going to be spending more plus a lot of time (or a lot more cash if you don't have the know how). The hub conversion, alone, costs almost as much as a Rubi Dana 44 does. While the Dana 30HP is a nice axle for mild wheeling/daily driving, if you plan on doing the extreme stuff, you need to upgrade.

From the way he's talking, he'll end up bending or breaking the Dana 30 before he can muster the cash to make it bulletproof.

Superhero

To add to the questions in this thread:


I'm planning my '92 Cherokee build. It's going to be a daily driver, to and from work (I am a snowboard instructor). I also use it for going to camp sites, trailheads, down some simple trails, through deep snow and ice etc. I really don't go over rocks very often, but do want the capability to do so if there happen to be any in my way.

Anyway, I'm planning on swapping out my rear 27 spline 8.25 with a 29 spline 8.25 (or if I am lucky a XJ D44) and adding some kind of locker to it when I do. I won't have larger than 32s and was wondering if the Aussie locker would hold up well with this kind of usage. I'd like an Ox locker but $800+ is out of my range. On paper the Aussie seems perfect for me, but I want to be sure that it is as good as it looks.

Also, the Aussie Locker webpage states that installing a locker on the front diff is not recommended if you drive on icy roads. Anyone know why? Is this at all applicable to the rear? I spend a lot of time driving on ice so this could be kinda important.

Thanks!

jeepkid46

I believe all the rubi has is a bigger ring and pinion same tubes which would bend as much as the 30 hence the wrld in axle tubes last i checked 200

Garvin

The older Rubi axles had the Dana 44 inner with Dana 30 knuckles but the newer Rubi axles are a complete upgrade, they're rated at stronger than the older Dana 44HP in the F250/350 from the late 70's.. The only problem is that they are 5x5 (forgot about that part until now). You can get a set of these axles (front and back 44's) for around $2000 with lockers, gears, disc brakes, pretty much everything already set (might need to go a bit deeper in gears, not sure if they come from the factory with deeper than 4.11's).

If you really want to go extreme, you could keep the rear brackets on the axle and set up a rear coil conversion with the bracket geometry as a basis.

Rock Toy

Let me know where you can get a set of the JK rubi axles for 2000 bucks. Last I seen they were about 2500 for the rear and around 2800 for the front. Oh yeah, the Rubi axles are electric lockers not air.
If the OP is going to install a locker in the Dana 30 front axle and goes with a full carrier locker that replaces the carrier he will not have to buy a different carrier for the gear change. Dana 30 axles can be upgraded enough to handle 35s without breaking the bank as long as the driver uses some brains ( Remember finesse is your friend! )

jeepkid46

I have heard way to much bout the rubis and im never going there and for that price i can swap 8.8 in and build them both way strong

N20jeep

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